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Suburbs search for their public connecting spaces during Canucks games

June 5th, 2011 · 15 Comments

When there’s a big story in town, everything starts to connect to that big story. Therefore, a Canucks angle can be found for anything. In my case, it was urban space.

I wrote this story after noticing how suburban hockey revellers and politicians alike seem to be looking for places where people can come together, besides living rooms and bars. They don’t always have the same idea in mind, though.

Categories: Uncategorized

  • West End Gal

    Speaking of downtown, traffic, parking regulations policing.
    This Vision gang and their Mayor Robertson have to go. I can’t take it anymore. I live in west end. This weekend was unbearable. Because of Vision’s new green methods that touched this city deeply, we have no parking available for those out of town families visiting. Parking have become expensive, bike lanes have replaced many free and pay parking. Most of the 1 and 2 hours free parking were replaced with pay parking. Idiots! Now I have hundreds of cars circling every block closed to English Bay, all those fumes coming up right to my apartment. Three years ago this never happened. It’s completely utterly idiotic. Thus Vision gang, when they said they want a clean environment I think they were lying through their teeth. What they really want is a clean place for themselves, which means that now, after they all got settled in our former civil city they want to keep everyone out, so they can breath more easily. Well I live right in the middle of it all and am not amused. Please help to throw these hypocrites out! I feel better now…

  • Richard

    @West End Gal

    Really, the bike lanes are no where near English Bay and even still, there are thousands of underground parking spaces along Hornby Street. And further more, there were more parking spaces created on Howe and Seymour when the buses went back on Granville than were replaced on Hornby.

    Please, get your facts straight.

    Also, in all the noise surrounding the Hornby bike lane debate, we seem to have lost focus on what is really important: the safety of people walking and cycling in our city. Separated bicycle lanes can actually reduce injuries and real pain they cause.

    The slower traffic along Hornby and Dunsmuir, while a minor inconvenience to a few drivers, improves the safety of people walking and cycling. Research has proven that pedestrian fatalities rise dramatically in crashes where cars are travelling over 30 kilometres per hour. The banning of right turns on red and the separate right turn signals makes walking across the street safer while protecting cyclists from collisions as well.

    In New York City, separated bicycle lanes decreased sidewalk riding by 85 per cent and I expect a similar reduction here. In Montreal, separated bike lanes similar to ours significantly improved the safety of cyclists. By providing a buffer between the noise and pollution of traffic, separated bike lanes also make walking more pleasant.

    Finally, it is great to see people cycling with their children along Hornby and Dunsmuir. Surely you support child friendly cycling lanes.

  • Mark

    Yes, West End Gal, that’s why I moved to the West End too. For the plentiful, free parking. Why else would someone live here? I remember, before the bike lanes, everyone who came downtown on fireworks nights found free parking just close to the festival site. Now all that has changed because of this administration!

  • Everyman

    Actually, if West End Gal lives along Pacific or the southern part of Thurlow she might have a point. I’ve noticed vehicle traffic now frequently backs up there since the bike lanes were constructed. And wasn’t a lane of parking removed from Pacific as well? Horby was always metered, so I can’t agree with her assesment there.

    That said, the most draconian of resident parking laws were done long before Vision. Making so much of the area resident parking only really does dampen one’s enthusiasm to visit friends in the West End if you have to come by car. The city would have been better off making more zones limited time parking.

  • WEsenior

    I left the Orpheum and made my way home to the West End through the crowds Saturday night. But people were just milling about. The police were milling about. Where was the music? The dancing? The centre for a true celebration? All the way home I passed people heading down to Granville. But to what?

  • Sandy Garossino

    Getting away from the west end fumes for just a moment, it is so exciting that the Canucks are re-igniting that amazing Olympic spirit. I wonder if this will change how we do things here now.

    On a practical note, are the staff or folks at City Hall exploring on-site corporate sponsorship of these major public events so as to defray taxpayer expenditures?

    The Lakers ran into this problem in 2009–where the City and the team split the $2 million cost of public festivities (am still mourning the loss of the Grizzlies–just sayin’). There must be all kinds of precedents in other hockey cities.

    City Hall may already be on this (or even fielding inquiries from smart marketing departments across the country), and there may be barriers that make this unworkable.

    Frances, it would be interesting to know what opportunities exist to shift or share the taxpayer burden associated with our wildly irrational exuberance.

  • Glissando Remmy

    Sandy,
    Fair questions. Not many Penny Ballem answers, though.
    Here’s a recent take of mine on this topic…

    The Thought of The Night

    ‘It’s June. Finally the weather cooperates. Outside the temperature is 25 degrees Celsius, inside 15-16 degrees Celsius with a humidity at about 30%, and with the top ice at about -4 degrees Celsius for a healthy game. I’m talking about our Rogers Arena. 12 -14 dehumidifiers, if there are lots of bodies inside and if there is a lot of inside-outside traffic. And there is. A lot. Those Diesel generators, hmmm, must be working overtime…I assume.’

    Then I’m thinking, the NHL should start calling itself the NH3 as in Ammonia, which is largely used as refrigerant in the majority of skating rinks throughout North America, weather they say they are using it or not that’s another thing. Well, they are.
    It’s inserted as an afterthought in one of those generic names like…chemical conditioners (high energy efficiency and low cost, with one downsize… it’s a little toxic, in some instances even volatile, but hey, it’s hockey, it’s only the favorite pastime here in Canada, the only game that combines three sports into one, figure skating, boxing and snooker.

    As for celebrations…

    I saw an approximately 5.8 ft, 250 pounds man in a ‘Chest High Five’ routine with another guy, on Saturday, in downtown. They were both wearing XXXXL Canucks shirts;’Luongo’ said on one of them. I couldn’t read the other one. They thought they were macho because their favorite sport was hockey, but really now, is there anything gayer than wearing another man’s shirt, and doing jumping jacks?

    At the end of the game they shouted ‘we won, we won…weeeee, woooonnn!’ Nope! Calm down people, you didn’t win anything, a group of 15 guys, who would probably not give you the time of the day…won. All that you did actually, was filtering beer into piss in a very short period of time, and got to wear your idol’s shirt on your back.
    I think people are too fixated on sports in this city. Maybe it’s about time to fixate on something healthier…like smoking and drinking, or even better, combine them.

    BTW have you seen those Boston fans with those ridiculous spongy bear heads, and spongy claws? Oh, yeah, that was very mature. Manly!

    OK, place to celebrate. Ahem.

    The interesting fact that is missing from this article penned by the Director of Planning is…the ‘small print’ curiosity that the ‘Greenest City in the World by 2020’, the fastest runner in the LEED race, Net Zero buildings, green roofs, communal gardens, city chicken coops that run free, divorced bike lanes …is hosting a sporting event that based on the not so encouraging late carbon offset numbers, should not be taking place during this time of the year. Definitely not in Vancouver, BC, the best place on Earth…

    But wait a minute, the photo ops are too good to pass, the populism does miracles in an election year, keep the young inebriated. Listen, we even found enough dough to cover these mere inconveniences some people call…money.

    And who are we kidding, we could send Andrea Reimer to plant trees in the Interior anytime, her transportation allowance it’s still open.

    Do the people of Vancouver need a place to celebrate great sporting events? Sure, why not? But why not let the Tourism industry, the Hospitality, the Restaurateurs, the Kitsch Sporting Goods and Memorabilia industry, the Good the Bad and the Ugly from the burbs, the Canucks owners, to cover some of the costs associated with such a display of tender love and affection…

    Stanley Cup or no Stanley Cup, in two weeks, the city is still going to scrap the bottom of the revenue feeder for crumbs, and it will still come up empty.

    ‘To close public parks washrooms or not to close,
    That is the question.’

    And I would like to end with an anecdote too.
    When Brent Toderian attends an architectural conference,Three Wise Men…leave town.

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

    PS.
    You may want to read the original CC post for some background, here:

    http://www.citycaucus.com/2011/06/city-planner-says-major-sporting-events-can-build-better-cities#comments

  • The Fourth Horseman

    I would like to see cost sharing as well. The City alone should not be on the hook for an event that beneifts private businesses. I think it would be in the Canuck’s best interest to share some policing costs, as an example.

    I don’t know if there is a department (marketing) that is a stand alone for this kind of thing, at the Hall—but there should be.

  • jester

    This is a fantastic sponsorship opportunity, if it can come together fast enough.

  • Sandy Garossino

    I take it all back. Cannot jinx this series!

  • Higgins

    Canucks will win. Sandy # 10, you cannot jinx this series. Flip-flopping on any issue is a bad example. You already criticized Susan Anton for doing just that on a few occasions. This is an important issue. Read Glissando’s post #7. He is talking about what’s good for the city, the whole city, and not only for the sport fans. That, I respect.

  • West End Guy

    @West End Gal

    You’re probably just a troll, but FYI, you can get permit parking passes for out of town visitors relatively easily. All you need to do is get a copy of their registration (faxed, scanned, whatever), and take it to the parking people at the West End Community Centre. If I remember correctly, it cost me seven bucks to get a temporary West End permit for a week.

    This only applies to people whose registration is for out of town, though.

    http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/parking/admin/rpp_temp.htm#non (It’s apparently now $11.20 per week.)

  • Glissando Remmy

    The Thought of The Night

    ‘You cannot jinx a 8-1 loss. Period.’

    No respect. If there was ever need for proof that there is no honor in sports, beyond the checkbooks, this result, tonight, clears the air. For all the Canucks fans out there, I have this to say… shut it. What happened in Boston was a disgrace.
    To loose like this in a Stanley Cup Final is shameful. No excuse. let,s be serious for a moment. The first win was lucky, the second win was…lucky.
    But in all fairness, no game is the same, so we’ll see, time for redemption…this coming Wednesday.

    West End Guy… @12

    I almost missed West End Gal @ 1 comment. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

    If she is a troll, WEGuy…you are a troll basher.

    Not everyone is so well informed like you are.
    She makes some great points, care to debate me on this ones?
    Since Vision formed the majority on Vancouver clowncil, the West End have become inaccessible or very difficult to visit if you planned doing it by car.
    I did some suntanning at the Third on Saturday. Mayhem. Bumper to bumper on Robson, Denman, and Georgia. The Stanley Park causeway was packed as well.

    English Bay – Davie intersection looked and smelled like a skewered assortment of Skunk treats, barbecued in Butane, with bikers going with the traffic, against the traffic, with helmet, with no helmet, on the side walks…
    The reality is this…the free one and two hours parking…gone.
    Pay parking prices…gone up.
    Pay parking ends at 22.00 hours instead of previously 20.00 hours.

    So, on Sunday we went to the Burnaby Village Museum and in the evening to the Deer Lake Park.
    Parking is free, pay parking up till eight o’clock in the evening by the way, no hassle, no Parking enforcement officers to try making up their weekend quota and ruin your day for the benefit of the Ballem & Aufocks brethren. Pure pleasure being there. And check this one out, the entry fee to the BV Museum has been waived till September of this year, as a courtesy to their Burnaby patrons on their 40st anniversary.

    Sweet.

    Here, in the f#*&d up Vancouver, we couldn’t find the monies to keep the Animal farm in Stanley Park open, for the enjoyment of future generations to come. (apparently New Westminster can deal with theirs, free again…) Thanks Penny.
    Keep it all for your peep holes!
    Here in Vancouver the monies are needed to pay for the extra policing. For the hockey games, ladies and gentlemen, and when I’m saying, ladies and gentleman, I am not including in this the very heavy pregnant woman whose belly was painted over with the Canucks logo, what were you thinking darling, it’s a miracle you didn’t deliver , good thing they won that one; or the guy punched in the face laying down on the ground in astonishment; or the bunch of frats crushing empty beer cans on their foreheads. Lovely.

    Maybe this is the face of Vancouver of the future. Or maybe not. What do I know?

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy

  • Bill McCreery

    Good point 4th Horse.

    The NPA has just participated in the very successful Italian Day festival on the Drive yesterday. The City charges the event organizers to cover their costs for street closures, police, etc.

    Apparently the City charged them more last year than they originally had been told, so they had to charge us participants even more this year to cover last year’s deficit. Consequently all participants also got an unexpected shock this year.

    If this rule applies to community groups, why not to Downtown events?

  • Dan Cooper

    From the article: “Typically, the best public spaces are somewhat enclosed spots that are already popular pedestrian areas, like Vancouver’s well-defined celebration street, Granville Mall.”

    Of course, that depends on “popular” with whom. Just yesterday I was riding the bus along Granville downtown (the 15/50 that runs now from Cambie all the way to the Chinese Garden, albeit indirectly!) and reflected – as I do every time I have to pass through there – what a grimy, rundown and just plain unpleasant place it is, visually and emotionally. Basically, a wasteland of tacky bars, pizza-by-the-slice and swaggering toughs. Perhaps others have a different hit on it, but I would not take my child to a “celebration” there for fear of us being assaulted and/or vomited on by some drunk thug. Note, I’m not saying that there should not be such a place, for those who enjoy such things, but hopefully, a different (safer, more family-friendly) vibe can be created at the Surrey site – and maybe in Vancouver somewhere?